Can you help me? This is not really a gardening problem but.......
It is only spring but I have already found 4 wasps in the house, and
been stung by one already. Why am I finding so many? I'm surprised to
have a nest already.

Owen

Owen wrote:
Can you help me? This is not really a gardening problem but.......
It is only spring but I have already found 4 wasps in the house, and
been stung by one already. Why am I finding so many? I'm surprised to
have a nest already.

Owen

They are probably from last year's nest - the sun has warmed them up enough
to take flight but they've been 'tricked' as it's not quite warm enough for
them to go about their normal buisness, hence them being pi$$ed off when you
go near them.
Take a look in your loft, inside wall vents and anywhere else where you
think they may have got a foothold last year and destroy the nest, better
still get the council to do it, they have a type of powder that isn't
available to the public.

"Owen" wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you help me? This is not really a gardening problem but.......
It is only spring but I have already found 4 wasps in the house, and
been stung by one already. Why am I finding so many? I'm surprised to
have a nest already.

Owen


We had a swarm of bees come onto the boat as we were going through the
Panama Canal in January. These 'settled' on the back of one of the sun
loungers near one of the pools!! The ship radioed ahead and a local Bee
keeper came on board and cleared them when we got to the Pacific end!!

Mike

"Owen" wrote in message
ups.com...

Can you help me? This is not really a gardening problem but.......
It is only spring but I have already found 4 wasps in the house, and
been stung by one already. Why am I finding so many? I'm surprised to
have a nest already.

Owen


I've already released three out into the garden found dozing on
the sides of pots or on cacti on windowsills. I have yet to be
stung by a wasp, bee or any other insect, or be bitten by a
dog. Been scratched by the occasional resident cat however.
Very handsome looking insects wasps IMO, in their yellow
and black livery.

michael adams

....

"Owen" wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you help me? This is not really a gardening problem but.......
It is only spring but I have already found 4 wasps in the house, and
been stung by one already. Why am I finding so many? I'm surprised to
have a nest already.

I don't understand why you have been stung, the only ones around at the
moment will be queens, and as far as I'm aware they cannot sting.

You have two choices, either swat them, or encourage them to go outside and
find a place to nest.

To move them outside, take a tumbler, cover the wasp with it, slide a piece
of card over the opening, hold it over the top of the glass, take it
outside, as far down the garden as you can, and release it.

Quite easily done.

Alan


Owen

"michael adams" wrote

I've already released three out into the garden found dozing on
the sides of pots or on cacti on windowsills. I have yet to be
stung by a wasp, bee or any other insect, or be bitten by a
dog. Been scratched by the occasional resident cat however.

How on earth have you managed that?

I've been stung and bitten by all sorts of insects, including (in this
country) Ants, Bees and Wasps and even the Great Diving Beatle (like a red
hot needle, very painful). Been bitten by a Grass Snake, a horse twice on
the shoulder, a Vole and a Pike, all drew blood. Also a couple of dogs that
meant it, one big one that grabbed my knee and hung on whilst I was riding a
motorcycle! the other a small poodle that had my ankle.
Cat scratches and puncture wounds, well Sue reckons I look like a drug
addict I always have so many.

Perhaps I've had your share too. :-)

--
Regards
Bob
"Never get so busy making a living
that you forget to make a life"

How on earth have you managed that?

I've been stung and bitten by all sorts of insects, including (in this
country) Ants, Bees and Wasps and even the Great Diving Beatle (like a red
hot needle, very painful). Been bitten by a Grass Snake, a horse twice on
the shoulder, a Vole and a Pike, all drew blood. Also a couple of dogs
that
meant it, one big one that grabbed my knee and hung on whilst I was riding
a
motorcycle! the other a small poodle that had my ankle.
Cat scratches and puncture wounds, well Sue reckons I look like a drug
addict I always have so many.

Perhaps I've had your share too. :-)


but never stood on a Weaver fish ??

Nasty :-((((

It settles itself in the sand with just a huge spike standing up. As a
nipper I was paddling and stood on one. It hurts, big time hurts and that is
without the spike breaking off. If it breaks off in your foot
......................... :-(((((((((((((

Mike

"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
...

"Owen" wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you help me? This is not really a gardening problem but.......
It is only spring but I have already found 4 wasps in the house, and
been stung by one already. Why am I finding so many? I'm surprised to
have a nest already.

I don't understand why you have been stung, the only ones around at the
moment will be queens, and as far as I'm aware they cannot sting.

It will be entirely queens just now but I think the queens can sting
but that is a guess.



You have two choices, either swat them, or encourage them to go outside
and find a place to nest.

To move them outside, take a tumbler, cover the wasp with it, slide a
piece of card over the opening, hold it over the top of the glass, take it
outside, as far down the garden as you can, and release it.

Quite easily done.

Alan


Owen

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"michael adams" wrote

I've already released three out into the garden found dozing on
the sides of pots or on cacti on windowsills. I have yet to be
stung by a wasp, bee or any other insect, or be bitten by a
dog. Been scratched by the occasional resident cat however.

How on earth have you managed that?

Because I'm in the fortunate position that my livelihood and
survival have never involved direct competition with wildlife.
Because of this I don't regard wildlife as a threat, and
apart from the odd blac-kfly on the beans have never had to
go out of my way to kill any of it. This is a conscious
decision. I find an anthropormorphic flopsy-bunny
approach to nature, more satisfactory than a nature red in
tooth and claw one - if only because we can't win in the
end. No matter how much of it you manage to kill off in a
lifetime. And so there's no point in worrying unecessarily.
And the insects for one, are probably going to win in the end
in any case. For the last couple of million years of the
planet's existence at least.
Although both viewpoints, FB and NRTC, are equally valid IMO,
depending on personal circumstances and whether you've got any
rabbits nibbling away at your lettuces or not.
By and large, small forms of wildlife only attack larger
forms of wildlife, when they feel threatened and so it
can pay to keep an eye out.

....


I've been stung and bitten by all sorts of insects, including (in this
country) Ants, Bees and Wasps

....

Maybe by distrbing nests ?

....

and even the Great Diving Beatle (like a red
hot needle, very painful). Been bitten by a Grass Snake, a horse twice on
the shoulder,

....

As I understand it, horses are naturally nervous animals and so you
should make your presence known to them by making a noise or touching
them before coming into vision. Maybe not relevant here. Dunno.

....

a Vole and a Pike, all drew blood.

....

The river is the Vole and the Pike's home. They were exerting
reasonable force in order to persuade you to leave. Just
lucky for you they didn't own shotguns.

....

Also a couple of dogs that
meant it, one big one that grabbed my knee and hung on whilst I was
riding a motorcycle! the other a small poodle that had my ankle.

....

The trick with dogs apparently is to crouch down so you don't
present so much of a threat. That, or in your case buy a faster
motorbike. Very few dogs can maintain a firm grip while having
their noses tickled I'm led to believe.

....

Cat scratches and puncture wounds, well Sue reckons I look like a drug
addict I always have so many.

....

Cat scratches are the result of their dual nature, the same dual
nature which used to come in so handy in keeping the rodent
population at bay. Although some cats IME never scratch in a play
situation, maybe depending on their nature and whether they
came from non-hunting mothers. They will still scratch when
fighting other cats however.


michael adams

....




Perhaps I've had your share too. :-)

--
Regards
Bob
"Never get so busy making a living
that you forget to make a life"

Following up to "michael adams" :

And the insects for one, are probably going to win in the end
in any case. For the last couple of million years of the
planet's existence at least.

Insects have been around for about 415 million years, if that's any
consolation.
--
Tim C.

In message , Alan Holmes
writes

I don't understand why you have been stung, the only ones around at the
moment will be queens, and as far as I'm aware they cannot sting.

I used to think that. The sting's a modified ovipositor so you'd think
the queen wasp couldn't have both, but apparently she lays eggs without
needing an ovipositor.
I've also heard the drones can't sting, but that it's hard to
distinguish them from workers which can.

You have two choices, either swat them, or encourage them to go outside and
find a place to nest.

I'd squash the queens (they're easy to pick out as they're huge) but
wouldn't bother with the normal worker wasps.

If you see a hornet (even larger with a lot of red instead of black) be
nice to it, they're too placid to bother stinging anyone and they keep
the numbers of annoying normal wasps down.

--
Sue ]

MadCow wrote:
In message , Alan Holmes
writes


I don't understand why you have been stung, the only ones around at the
moment will be queens, and as far as I'm aware they cannot sting.

I used to think that. The sting's a modified ovipositor so you'd think
the queen wasp couldn't have both, but apparently she lays eggs without
needing an ovipositor.

In honey bees the queen can definitely sting and lay eggs. The sting is
a modified ovipositor, but the it is mostly (I think) used on other
queens. I don't know if wasps are similar, but if one insect can do
it...

I've also heard the drones can't sting, but that it's hard to
distinguish them from workers which can.

If the sting is an ovipositor, I guess it makes sense that the males
wouldn't have a sting. Again, this is the case with honey bees.

If you see a hornet (even larger with a lot of red instead of black) be
nice to it, they're too placid to bother stinging anyone and they keep
the numbers of annoying normal wasps down.

I saw a few wasp-like insects last year (ie black and yellow), but much,
much bigger -- perhaps 4cm long. Didn't look like a hornet, but I've no
idea what else it might have been.

James

In message , James Fidell
writes

I saw a few wasp-like insects last year (ie black and yellow), but much,
much bigger -- perhaps 4cm long. Didn't look like a hornet, but I've no
idea what else it might have been.


What did they sound like? Unmistakeable deep deep drone? That's a
hornet. There's black on them as well as red.

--
Sue

"MadCow" wrote in message
...
In message , James Fidell
writes

I saw a few wasp-like insects last year (ie black and yellow), but much,
much bigger -- perhaps 4cm long. Didn't look like a hornet, but I've no
idea what else it might have been.


What did they sound like? Unmistakeable deep deep drone? That's a
hornet. There's black on them as well as red.

I was putting in a garden today and I found a small nest behind a brusgh
wood fence I had put up some time ago. A can of fly spray dealt to the wasps
and the boot of my heel dealt to the nest.

rob